‘Smarter than the average bear’, ‘a super bright young man’, and ‘funny as heck’ are all ways that Nicholas Holmok’s instructors describe this 7 year old from Ashland, New York. Nicholas is a talkative, energetic, funny, and VERY intelligent kid who happens to have spina bifida. As a result, he has weakness in his lower legs and wears braces to help strengthen his ankles. He uses his ‘sticks’ to help make walking easier. Nick’s parents and siblings all ski, and when he entered kindergarten at Windham-Ashland-Jewett last year, Nicholas was finally given the opportunity to join them on the slopes (he says his Dad and siblings are pretty good, but with a sly grin informs me that Mom needs some work). Because of the weakness in his legs, Nick needs to ski with the help of a slider, essentially a walker on skis. Nick wears a pair of skis and the slider rests on a pair of skis as well. Two arm rests help Nicholas take some of his body weight off his feet so he can ski longer. Nick skis with help from his friend ‘Brandywine Lou’.